Overview

To reach the quest hub for the first time it was necessary to break the following cipher, which unfortunately was not a shift-cipher.

Yr xpfjm ymp bepqy meo, hr yr myyw://kkk.ezi.pde/~xpwfxpny/112/ fnd qpfxjm urx “styytpq.” Npgy, p-iftv ymp urvvrktnh ipqqfhp “T urend ty!” yr ip fy xpwfxpny@ezi.pde.


Humans have been communicating in code since they’ve begun writing. The process of breaking codes and cipher is known as Cryptology. “This obsession with secrecy has had dramatic effects on the outcome of wars, monarchies and individual lives. [1]” As humans we are by nature curious of other people and their business and with the help of social networking sites and the Internet we can know virtually more then we ever could before. Unfortunately, this may cause us to withdraw into our own private matters and question how confidential our private information really is.

But wait! If only there was a non-technical language of some kind that consisted of cracking a code only you and your recipients could unlock. Although code breaking has been in existence as early as the 1800’s its purpose is still the same, to convey private information to a specific person (or people) with the added security that no one else will understand it. The more complex the code the less likely it is someone will intercept the message. Codes on the simpler side employ using numbers to represent letters of the 26-letter alphabet. Common techniques include writing words backward so they appear correct in a mirror, or reverse imaging, as well as scrambling the letters within the sentence [2].

During the Civil War both the Union and the Confederate forces used ciphers to communicate secret messages. It appears the Confederates were less successful in decoding because they started publishing them in newspapers, asking citizens to try and break them [3]. It is also said that John Booth and his conspirators used ciphers to communicate potential plans to assassinate President Lincoln.


Interested in writing a good code?



Sources:


[1] http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Code_Book.html
[2] https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/parents-teachers/teacher-resources/index.html#lesson-plan-e-codes
[3] http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2006/april/cryptanalysis_041206


History

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Opinion


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Future Trends?


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